


Over

by allwaswell16



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Art, Banter, Epilogue, Exes, Explicit Sexual Content, Facebook, Fate, Getting Back Together, London, M/M, Master Neon Glass Blower Harry, Masturbation, Miscommunication, Photo Shoots, Pining, Smut, Social Media, Twitter, Video Game Developer Louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:40:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27404452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allwaswell16/pseuds/allwaswell16
Summary: Harry still thinks about the one who got away. Louis still wonders what went wrong with the man of his dreams. A year after their breakup, fate intervenes in the form of a photographer looking for strangers to pose as a couple.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 78
Kudos: 438
Collections: 1d Breakup Fic Fest





	Over

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theendofjune](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theendofjune/gifts).



> This fic is somewhat based on a viral photo shoot that you can find [here](https://twitter.com/kyaxcheeks/status/1282829976874692609?s=20). 
> 
> [Laura](https://twitter.com/BestLarrieFics), thank you for all your support of our fandom's writers including me! This one's for you! <3
> 
> The gorgeous artwork is by halosart. You can find her on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/halosart) [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/halo-of-a-strong-heart%22) [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/halosart/) !
> 
> [taggiecb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taggiecb/pseuds/taggiecb), couldn't do this without you!  
> [Nic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/YesIsAWorld/pseuds/YesIsAWorld), thank you so much for the beta! You're the best!  
> [Roni](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reminiscingintherain/pseuds/reminiscingintherain), thank you for the Brit pick and all the kind words!  
> [Sus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lululawrence/pseuds/lululawrence), thank you for keeping me on track! 
> 
> [HamPalpert](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HamPalpert/pseuds/HamPalpert) and [Sterre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GMTYUniverse/pseuds/GMTYUniverse), ily and it's been fun running this fest with you both!

Niall whipped the pillow out from under his head on the sofa causing Harry’s face to squish into the cushion. “Mate, you can’t spend your whole life laying in front of the telly watching romantic comedies.”

“Yes, I can,” Harry said, his voice a bit muffled from his lips being pressed against the cushion. “Leave me here please to die alone.”

“You wouldn’t have to die alone if you’d actually try dating someone.”

Harry shrugged as best he could from his prone position on the sofa. “No one wants what I want, so why bother?”

“How do you even know when you barely leave the flat except for work?”

He didn’t answer, but he thought of the last few terrible first dates he’d been on and sighed into the cushion. In his heart, he knew Niall was right, but it was just really hard for anyone to live up to his expectations after—no, he refused to think about Louis right now.

Harry felt the sofa shift as Niall sat down. 

“Is this still because of Tom?” Niall sounded muted, careful. And for the strangest moment, Harry couldn’t think who he meant. 

“No.” Bloody hell, it should be about Tom, but it wasn’t. Why was he thinking about someone he was with for a few, albeit glorious, months an entire year ago instead of the man he nearly married? There was something truly fucked going on in his brain.

“Well, then get your mardy arse off the sofa. I’m taking you to meet someone.”

Harry groaned and rolled over. “Don’t want to.”

“He’s very cool. A photographer. You’ll like him. He’s coming to take photos at the shop next week, and I said I’d meet him for a drink. It’s not a set up or anything. Just come meet the guy.”

With the utmost reluctance, Harry slid off the sofa. He could tell by the tone of Niall’s voice that he wouldn't be avoiding a drink with him tonight, so he made his way into his bedroom to change into something more appropriate to wear than trackies. 

As they walked into the pub, Harry scanned the room until he realised he was looking for the wrong person and he had no clue what this Miles bloke looked like, but Niall dragged them up to the bar and ordered pints for them. 

“So where is he? Am I being stood up? Can I go home now?”

“No. Shut up. We’re early, and you know it. Take a drink and stop whinging.” Niall took a swig and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “He doesn’t even know you’re coming, so you can’t get stood up anyway. Again, which you already know.”

Harry shrugged and took a sip. 

“Hiya, Miles! Over here!”

Harry turned to get a look, and he had to admit the man was quite attractive. Tall, nice build, dark eyes, lovely brown curls. He raked a self-conscious hand through his own rather short hair. He’d practically shaved it after he and Louis broke up. What a mistake. And here he was thinking about Louis again when a gorgeous man stood in front of him.

“Niall, hello.” Miles stuck out a hand to shake. “Just want to say thank you for hiring me. Horan & Horan is a spectacular place to shoot.”

“Of course, mate. Glad to have you on board the team. Speaking of the team, this is our master neon glass blower, Harry Styles. Harry, this is Miles McMillan, the photographer we hired to take photos for the website and for promotional purposes.”

Miles grasped his hand in a firm handshake that Harry tried to return. “Nice to meet you, Harry. If you’re the blower, you must be quite skilled. I understand it’s a very specialised skill to have.”

“Ehm—”

Niall coughed. “Yeah, Harry’s a blower alright. Best blower around. Not that I have personal experience, but—”

“Oh my god,” Harry muttered under his breath. 

“Really? Well, I’d love to take photos of you blowing sometime. Might make for some interesting photos.”

Niall choked a bit on his Guinness. “Take as many photos of him blowing as you like.” 

Harry stepped on Niall’s foot with the heel of his boot and then shrugged. “Sure. I don’t mind. People come into the shop all the time to see the signs being made.”

When he glanced up at Miles, he seemed to be eying him closely before he turned to the bar to get a drink. They all chatted a bit more about when was a good time for Miles to take photos at work, but his gaze unerringly fell to Harry’s face more and more. Niall kept nudging him as though Miles’ interest was a good thing, but to be honest, it just felt a bit uncomfortable.

“So Harry, are you single?”

“Ehm—”

“Oh, he’s single. So single. Very very single.”

Harry shot him a murderous look. “Thanks, Niall.”

Miles politely ignored that Niall poked Harry in the shoulder and that Harry elbowed him in the gut. “I have this photography project I’ve been working on that I think you might be perfect for.”

“Oh.” Niall didn’t bother to hide his disappointment.

“What kind of project?”

“Well, first of all, are you straight?”

Harry tried not to be offended by the question as Niall choked on his Guinness. “No. I’m not. Is that a problem?”

“Of course not. I just needed to know for sure, so I can match you up with the right person. See, the project is to take couples photos like engagement type shots but with two people who are perfect strangers.”

“Might be a good way to meet someone,” Niall said, perking up.

“I’ll give you my card, and you can think it over.”

Harry took the card, but he didn’t have much interest in pretending to be a couple with a total stranger. By the look on Niall’s face, he wasn’t sure he was going to have much of a choice in the matter. 

  
  


The music in the club blared through the speakers as Louis made his way to the bar, his two best mates in tow. He knew they were just trying to be good friends by making him come out dancing tonight, but he just didn’t feel much like dancing. If he was being honest with himself, he hadn’t felt much like dancing in a while. A long while.

He sipped at the cocktail in his hand and wondered for the thousandth time what exactly went wrong between them. Glancing around the club, there were plenty of stares being sent his way, and yet, he couldn’t manage to gather up any desire to stare back.

“You gonna pull tonight, Tommo?” Liam shouted in his ear.

He just shrugged in response. 

“Liam can stay at mine if you want to,” Zayn added. 

Bloody hell, he must really be pathetic if both of them thought he needed to shag someone. “Dunno yet. See if I fancy taking anybody home tonight.” He saw his friends exchange a glance. They all knew he wouldn’t be taking anyone home tonight. Louis gulped down the rest of his drink, letting the vodka burn down his throat.

“There’s a guy across the bar that’s been checking you out, Lou.”

Louis looked in the direction Zayn indicated, and indeed there was a man watching him closely. If Louis was looking to take someone home tonight, it would definitely be that bloke. He had lovely brunette curls, a stunningly handsome face, nicely toned body from what Louis could see of it. 

Too bad Louis wasn’t interested. He waved the bartender over to get another drink. 

“Hey, mate. The bloke over there’s asked to pay for your drink if you’d like.” 

Well, fuck. Maybe he should talk to him. Maybe it was a sign he needed to get over this funk he’d been in since—well, since he and Harry didn’t work out. It had been months. He should be over him by now. Wait, had it been a year? Fucking hell, it’d been an entire year. That settled it.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” When he got his vodka tonic in hand, he raised both an eyebrow and the glass in the bloke’s direction and watched as he stood up and started walking over. Quite tall, he was. Nice.

What he didn’t expect was the man to offer him a handshake. “Hi, I’m Miles.”

“Uh—hi. Louis. And these are my mates, Liam and Zayn.”

Miles smiled and nodded at his friends who seemed determined to try and back away as quickly as possible. “Nice to meet you. I’ll cut right to the chase.”

Louis’ gut twisted. He used to be the kind of guy to bang in the toilets, but he was definitely out of practice. But maybe—

“I’m a photographer, and I’m working on this photography series that I’d like you to be a part of.”

Louis blinked a few times in confusion. “Uh—what’d you mean? Sorry, just thought you were gonna ask to shag me in the toilets.”

Miles let out a laugh. “Well, not saying I wouldn’t have wanted to do that, but I’m in desperate need of some models. You’ve got just the look I’ve been searching for.”

“Are you sure this isn’t just a way to get my pants around my ankles?”

Miles just smiled. “Louis, you’re quite beautiful, but my main interest in you is for a photography project where I’d pair you up with a stranger and photograph you as if you were a couple. It’s sort of a project that’s part psychology, part chemistry, part photography. So if you’re interested, here’s my card.”

A professional looking card slid into his palm, and he had to admit this probably wasn’t Miles just chatting him up. Maybe he should do it. He could spend more time with Miles who seemed like a nice enough chap. Something could come from it. 

Louis took a sip of his drink. “I’m in.”

  
  


“Fuck.” Harry tucked and then untucked the pink button down shirt he’d been instructed to wear. Why had he even agreed to do this and on his day off as well? 

Niall appeared in the doorway. “What are you on about in here?”

Oh right, this was Niall’s fault. “Don’t know whether to tuck in the shirt or not.”

“Tuck it in. You’ve wrinkled the bottom all up now, ya prat.”

He shot Niall a dirty look. “Thanks for the help.”

“You’re welcome. Also, wear a belt. It’ll make your white trousers look more posh and less John Travolta.”

Harry pursed his lips, but he did grab a belt. “Maybe I wanted to look like John Travolta,” he murmured. A pang hit him. Louis loved  _ Grease _ and John Travolta. He’d even played Danny in sixth form. Stop thinking about Louis, he scolded himself. 

He knew he’d be early, but he hopped on a bus as soon as he was ready just to avoid staring in the mirror and finding more things wrong with whatever he was wearing. Even though there was room on the bus, he stood and held the grab handle instead of sitting. It’d be quite embarrassing to show up with dirty white trousers.

The bus took a familiar route as the small park he was meeting Miles at was quite close to work. He tried to walk slowly so as not to show up before Miles even did, and when he arrived, there he was unpacking his equipment. 

“Hiya.” Harry waved, feeling a bit awkward.

“Hi, Harry. Thanks for coming.” Miles gave him a quick glance and a smile and began fussing with his camera.

When he realised he was basically just staring at Miles, he tried to refocus elsewhere. The trees, the grass, a few birds. He checked his phone for the time and wondered when this other bloke was going to show up.

“Sorry if I’m a bit late. Alarm didn’t go off.” 

Harry’s heart jumped into his throat at the voice. He knew this voice. It was the voice he heard now only in his dreams. His entire body stiffened, his head had shot up from the phone, and his neck snapped to find the source of the voice before he could even try to control the look on his face.

“Louis.” His cheeks warmed at the way he’d just called out Louis’ name, thick with emotion.

Louis’ mouth had fallen open, and the shock of seeing Harry had opened his eyes so widely that Harry was helpless not to stare into the blue of them. 

“I—” Louis cleared his throat, taking a backpack off his shoulder. “Um—hello. Alright, Harry?”

While his voice didn’t betray much anxiety, Harry noticed how rigid Louis held himself, so unlike the usually graceful way his body moved. After a stilted pause, Harry finally registered that Miles was watching them, curiosity plain on his face.

“You know each other?”

“Ehm—”

“Er—”

They both stopped to let the other speak. 

“I’ll take that as a yes. This hasn’t really happened before in any of my shoots. Perhaps this could be interesting. How do you two know each other?”

“Well—”

“Christ—”

Miles’ eyebrows raised to the sky. “Ah, I see.”

“Do you?” Louis shot at him. 

“How long were you together?” 

A muscle twitched in Louis’ jaw, and Harry jumped in with the need to keep him from losing his cool. “Five months.”

Louis’ face shuttered, his eyes dropping to the ground.

“Well, it makes sense why I thought you two would look proper nice together.” Miles smiled at them as though he was well chuffed to have matched them up. What kind of dickhead had Niall hired anyway?

Miles turned and began setting up a tripod. 

Surely, they weren’t still going to take couples photos. “But—um, doesn’t this kind of—ruin the shoot then?”

Miles made an adjustment to the camera. “Nope.”

“You serious, mate?” Louis asked, his eyes shooting blue flames. “How are we meant to do this then?”

“Oh, I think it’ll be quite interesting for the project. Rather than strangers, exes! Might be even better if you had a contentious breakup? Did you?” Miles looked at them rather hopefully as though he was just praying they hated each other. What kind of dickhead was this bloke?

“No,” Harry murmured.

“‘Course not. Harry’s lovely,” Louis bit out. 

“So it won’t be a problem then.” Miles clapped his hands together. “So glad I chose that soft buttery colour for your shirt, Louis. You look divine in it. You can set your bag next to my equipment.”

Definitely a dickhead. He wondered if he could have Niall fire him as an early Christmas bonus. 

“So for the photos I have three separate poses I’ll put you in that I had all the fake couples do. I’ll take many frames of each pose though. And feel free to move a bit with it and do what comes naturally. I think it’ll be fascinating to see if these photos differ much from all the others.” Miles practically beamed at the notion. “Harry, stand here and put your left hand in your pocket. Angle yourself a bit more to the right.”

Harry got into position, none too pleased, when he heard Louis’ stifled laugh. Their eyes met, and Louis shrugged as Miles put him into position beside him. “Now, Harry put your arm around Louis’ waist here. And Louis, put your left hand on Harry’s chest.”

Harry sucked in a breath as Louis’ hand came to rest across his heart. He was sure he must be able to feel it beating out of his chest. How was he supposed to relax into this and make it look natural when it was the last thing he felt comfortable doing?

“Can’t believe you’re jealous.”

“What?” Harry asked, startled. “I’m not jealous.”

“That look you gave him, Haz. Almost singed his eyebrows off. And by the way, you’re still looking at him like that, and he’s already started taking the photos and giving us directions to smile.”

Harry instinctively tightened his hold at Louis’ waist and tried to smile. The soft yellow shirt beneath his fingers must be a newer one. Or it was one Harry’d never seen anyway. The light colour brought out the warm tones of Louis’ skin, and somehow his eyes seemed even a more vibrant blue than he’d remembered. “Well, I suppose he’s right.”

“What?”

“Miles—he was right about the shirt.”

“Oh.” Louis fairly melted into him. It was as though they’d time traveled back to when they’d seemed to fit so well together. Muscle memory had him pressing his lips to Louis’ forehead before he could stop himself from such a natural reaction. 

He smiled then, taking in the moment. The smell of the grass and flowers around them. The way Louis felt in his arms. 

“Great smile, Harry!” Miles called out. “Can really see your dimples like that.”

For a split second, he’d forgotten where he was and why he was here. He was sure the smile died on his face, but Miles was already asking them to position themselves into another pose.

“So for the next one, Louis, place your hands on Harry’s shoulders.” 

Harry swallowed. Why were they even doing this? What kind of idiot stays for a couples photo shoot with their ex? Clearly, the two of them were exactly the kind of idiots who would stay. 

“Harry?” How many times had Miles called his name?

“Huh?”

“I said for this pose, I need you to pick him up.”

“Pick him up?” 

“Yeah, the pose is you picking him up, and Louis can wrap his knees around you to help hold him in place.”

He didn’t care what Miles said, he wasn’t picking Louis up without his permission. “Um—is this okay?”

Louis just sighed. “Yeah, it’s fine. Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.”

Harry grabbed hold of Louis’ legs and held him up, glad of all the time he’d spent in the gym lately. He needed a firmer grasp though. When he tried to scoop Louis up a bit further, he ended up scooting Louis’ arse right into his palms. Louis let out a little squeak as he was pressed in closer. 

His fingers spread wide across Louis’ arse, and for some reason this seemed like the most natural pose in the world. He nearly moaned when he felt Louis’ fingers in his hair at the nape of his neck and his cheek resting against Harry’s forehead.

“Bloody fantastic. You both look incredible like this. So natural.” 

Fuck. Miles. Right. Harry exhaled, the air leaving his lungs, deflating. He carefully slid Louis to the ground. He didn’t care if Miles wasn’t done yet. His body couldn’t take any more of this. He was already half hard in his trousers from having his hands on Louis like that. And of course, his shirt was tucked in. He’s probably ruined half the photos with his knob pressing out obscenely in these white trousers. Bloody Niall and his stupid advice.

When he finally looked to Miles, it was to find him grinning at them like the Cheshire Cat.

“These photos—” He trailed off and shook his head, chuckling to himself. “One more pose, lads.”

Harry turned back to Louis about to say something reassuring, but the words didn’t come when he looked at him. Louis was always stunning to look at, but just now, his cheeks were flushed with colour and his eyes were glazed over a bit, maybe from the sunlight. Harry wanted to devour him.

“—hope that won’t be too awkward!” Miles called out.

“What—”

“He said the last pose is a kiss,” Louis muttered, his eyes darting away from Harry and back towards Miles.

“A kiss?” This certainly had Harry struck dumb.

“So the pose is Harry, you sitting on the grass. And Louis, just sit in his lap. Doesn’t have to be anything too racy. Just a few little kisses. Or just do what feels natural.”

A drop of sweat immediately formed at the back of his neck. He turned his look of panic on Louis, but Louis looked everywhere but at him. 

“Harry—” Miles began.

“Right. Sitting.” He finally noticed the white blanket spread out nearby and wondered how he’d missed it. He walked over to it in a daze and sat down before looking up helplessly at Louis and wondering how in the everloving fuck they ended up here.

Louis looked like he was walking towards a firing squad, and Harry had never felt as horrible of a person as he did right now because deep down he still wanted Louis to sit in his lap and kiss him. Harry hadn’t a clue exactly how Louis was going to sit in his lap, but for some reason he wasn’t prepared for him to carefully lower himself over Harry to straddle his legs.

Well, at least the camera wouldn’t be able to pick up any more photos of Harry’s cock straining against his trousers, but Louis surely would be able to feel it. Harry wasn’t subtle at the best of times, and neither was his dick.

“You don’t have to do this.” 

A determined look crossed Louis’ face. “Shut up, Harry.”

Louis’ knees pressed into the blanket on either side of Harry as he reached for him. The soft touch of Louis’ fingertips at his jaw had him moaning into Louis’ kiss. 

A voice in the back of Harry’s mind tried to remind him that Louis always kissed like he meant it. The passion of it, the way he put all of himself into it, the way he could make him feel like he’d never want to kiss anyone else ever again. That was just Louis, and it had nothing to do with Harry. 

But that voice was easily drowned out by the roaring inside Harry’s ears, the sound of his heart pumping blood through his veins. There was no control, no thought to his movements as he clutched Louis’ shirt in his fists right at his hips as the entire world closed to everything but the feeling of Louis’ lips.

Harry was a beat too late in realising Louis was pulling back from the kiss. He surged up, keeping their lips together as his fingers clutched at Louis more firmly, until finally Louis pulled back enough to separate them. 

“Lou?” His voice barely sounded like his own, rough with desire.

“I’m sorry.” Louis’ voice betrayed only panic. Before Harry could do anything or Miles could say anything, Louis had scrambled up and away from him. Without another word, Louis strode off, quickly swallowed up by the crowds of people on the pavement of a warm, London afternoon.

  
  


Kissing Harry was like nothing else Louis had ever experienced. 

As soon as their lips touched, he’d clearly gone mad. But then, that’s how it had always been when he kissed Harry. It always felt like a shock of electricity to his system, every nerve ending on high alert.

Of course, he’d been rather embarrassing before the kiss as well. He climbed onto the bus and fell into a seat, his head in his hands. He may as well look like someone having a nervous breakdown instead of just feeling like it. 

He should have refused to do the shoot. Why had he even gone through with it? He whimpered pitifully to himself. He knew why. It was a chance to relive what he once had with Harry. Pathetic.

Almost a year later and he was still gone for a bloke who only saw him as some rebound he’d long since stopped thinking about. That was the real explanation for why they hadn’t worked out, and Louis knew it. He’d gone over what went wrong over and over, and nothing really made sense for why Harry began to pull away except that he just didn’t want to be with him. 

So stupid. Harry had been engaged and ended it and was clearly on the rebound when he met Louis. And it was the height of stupidity to believe that Harry was going to see something special in some gamer who spent all his time in front of a computer screen. 

Louis spiralled so far into a pit of misery, he nearly missed his stop, only scrambling to his feet just in time before the bus was off again. He trudged back to his flat and counted himself at least lucky enough that Zayn and Liam were at Space Age working on a huge update on one of their most popular video games. 

He face-planted onto the sofa and let his mind replay the entire afternoon in his head. At first he’d revelled in the feeling of being in Harry’s arms again. It had felt so natural, so right. And then he’d ruined it all by practically attacking Harry with that kiss. And now looking back, he just felt humiliated.

Harry had been so careful not to let Louis get the wrong idea. He’d kept asking him for permission, asking him if touching him was okay. 

Laying on the sofa wasn’t pathetic enough. He made himself a cuppa and brought it with him into his bedroom and crawled into bed. It would be a very long time before he’d be able to forget the mortification of this day. 

The longer he lay in bed reliving it all, the more bitter he became. He’d felt the way Harry had held him close, the way he’d hardened against him, the way he’d kissed him back as though he had meant it. 

He wanted to scream into the pillow at the way Harry had held him in his arms, his fingers pressing against his arse. It sent him back in time to Harry fucking him in nearly the same position, standing against a wall. 

He was well and truly fucked, might as well sink lower. He reached into his pants, palming at himself as he thought of being held by Harry, letting himself sink onto Harry’s cock. He panted as his mind dredged up memories of Harry’s kiss and his mouth and his words. He stroked himself to these thoughts, spilling into his fist at the last thought he had before he closed his eyes and drifted off, that one glorious moment in their relationship when Harry had said he loved him.

When he woke up, it was to the slam of a door and the creak of his own door opening. He opened his eyes to the sight of Liam, his eyebrows furrowed into a look Louis had seen far too often as of late. 

“Lou, why are you in bed? Is everything okay?”

“Um, yes?”

“You don’t sound very sure about that. Was the photo shoot that bad? I thought maybe you had your eye out for that photographer? Michael?”

“Miles. And no, I’m definitely not interested in Miles.” 

“So what happened?”

Louis let out a hollow laugh. “Christ, you won’t even believe it.”

“Try me.”

“Well, the other bloke who was doing the shoot with me? Yeah, it was Harry.”

Liam’s eyebrows shot up. “Harry?  _ Your _ Harry? Harry Styles?”

“Yes. That Harry, but he’s definitely not mine.”

“Well, fuck. Was he a wanker about it? Is that what’s got you so upset?”

“No. Just—it was really awkward, yeah? And he was proper nice about it, but it was just embarrassing, you know what I mean? And I just feel like I made a tit of myself.”

“I’m sure you didn’t—”

“I kissed him, Liam.”

“Oh.” A look of sympathy crossed over Liam’s face.

“I mean, Miles said it was one of the poses, but I  _ kissed him _ like properly kissed him. It wasn’t a peck on the cheek.”

Louis phone buzzed next to him, but he didn’t even look at it. 

“Well, I’m sure whatever happened, it’s not as bad as you think it is. Now listen, I’m ordering us Dominos, and we’ll send Zayn out for ice cream, and we’ll have a proper lads night in. Sound good?”

“Yeah.” Louis gave him as much of a smile as he could under the circumstances. “Thanks, Li.”

  
  


Harry paced across the small kitchen in circles.

_ Beep _ . “Ehm—hi. It’s Harry. Again. It’s just—I know you don’t want to talk to me Lou—Louis. But I still have your bag and I—well, I finally looked in it, and it looks like work stuff? So like maybe you need it? For—well, for work. Just ehm—call me back.”

He’s had Louis’ bag since the photo shoot a week ago, and at this point he’s called him about it an uncomfortable number of times. It finally dawned on him that Louis likely wasn’t checking his voicemail. He pulled up Louis’ contact again and sent a text.

_ You left your bag at the photo shoot. I have it and can drop it off tomorrow at the Space Age offices or sooner if you need it.  _

He wished he’d just sent this text a week ago instead of leaving so many voicemails. With a sigh Harry slumped into a chair at the small table jammed into the corner of the kitchen. He’d just been so hopeful that he’d get a chance to actually speak with Louis, but it was pretty fucking clear Louis never wanted to speak to him again. 

Obviously, it had been a mistake to go through with the shoot, but why had Louis run off as though a wild animal was chasing him? He drifted into imagining wild boars chasing Louis through London. Or maybe a tiger. Or a bear. Or maybe he’s been watching too many nature documentaries and the only thing Louis was running away from was him. 

He laid his head down on the table. Everything was shit, but it was fine. He’d just rest here until Niall made them go to work, and then he’d be too busy heating neon tubes to two hundred fifty degrees to think about anything but not letting the tubes collapse as he created the bends to form whatever today’s project ended up being.

When Niall wandered into the kitchen, he expected to be interrogated or at the very least asked if anything was wrong. Instead he caught Niall with a queer expression on his face. 

“Harry—when you went on that photo shoot—”

Harry immediately stiffened, but didn’t raise his head. “Yeah?”

“Why didn’t you tell me that it ended up being with Louis?”

It took a moment for his head to wrap around the fact that Niall knew who he’d done the shoot with. His head shot up off the table. “How do—who told—”

Niall sat down opposite him at the table. “No one had to tell me anything. Mate, what did you think Miles was going to do with the photos?”

“I dunno. He just said it was part of his project or whatever.” A bad feeling crept up Harry’s spine. “Why? What’s that got to do with how you know Louis was at the shoot?”

“Bloody hell, Harry. ‘Course he was gonna use the photos to advertise his work!”

“So—”

“So he used the photos. Put them up on his site and on Facebook, and someone tweeted them. And now they’re everywhere!”

“Wait, what?” A brief moment of confusion ran through him. “What do you mean they’re everywhere? Why would they be everywhere”

Panic began welling up inside him, but surely no one really cared about some random photographer’s weird project.

“I mean they’re bloody everywhere. Gone viral, hasn’t it?”

Harry felt the blood drain from his face. At least he was already sitting down or else he might have fallen over. “Which photo?”

“Well, there’s three—”

“Oh god.”

“Yeah, so there’s three shots, and yeah you and Louis look proper nice together. But that ain’t why it’s gone viral. It’s the story that Miles wrote with it that, um—made your photos stand out. Well, it was the photos, too, but I think it was the combination that did it.” Niall pulled out his phone and started scrolling, presumably looking for the post. “So it said that you two had a lot of er—chemistry. Maybe mentioned that you nearly set the park on fire with the sparks between you.”

Niall stopped scrolling and slid his phone across the table. 

The first photo stopped Harry’s heart. Louis was looking at the camera, his hands at Harry’s shoulders with Harry’s arms wrapped around him and Harry’s lips pressed to his forehead. “This wasn’t even the pose,” he choked out.

“What?”

He looked helplessly at Niall. “This was just what happened when we got into the pose. I forgot I was supposed to be posing.”

A pained look crossed Niall’s face. “Oh, mate. That’s—well, I guess I didn’t know you were still so hung up on Louis.”

Harry hung his head. He was just utterly humiliated that anyone looking at that photo would immediately know Harry’s feelings. Christ, they were written all over his face. No wonder Louis wouldn’t call him back.

Niall reached for his phone. “Maybe you should look at the other photos another time—”

Oh god, the other photos. He didn’t slide back Niall’s phone and instead flipped to the next one. It left him near whimpering. He’d swear he could still feel the ghost of Louis’ thighs and arse in his hands again. He was assailed again by the memory of how his body had reacted to having Louis pressed against him again. But what really sent him over the edge now was the look on Louis’ face, his hooded eyes and his satisfied smile. 

These photos were even more revealing than Harry had expected. He steeled himself and flipped to the last photo.

It sucked the air right out of him. The kiss. Of course. He relived that kiss over and over as he laid awake at night wondering all over again what went wrong. His humiliation truly felt complete now. 

The moment Miles had captured in the photo was the exact moment that Louis had begun to pull away as Harry had tried to hold on. 

Harry let the phone clatter to the table, and Niall grabbed for it. “I think maybe we should call in. Go see a film or something. Take your mind off things.”

“Wait, there was a write up with those photos. Give it back.”

“Um—I really think you should just—”

“Niall, give me the phone.”

“Now, Harry, just hold on—maybe wait until—”

“Niall. Give—me—the—phone,” Harry bit out.

“Okay, damn. Alright.” Niall unlocked the phone again and slid it back across the table. 

Harry flicked to the final photo in the tweet that already had a hundred thousand likes and counting on it. There was Miles’ header and then a posting that looked like he’d been using a template of sorts to describe the photos in his project

\- The  Stranger Sessions -

Louis + Harry

Louis is 28 years old and works in game development at Space Age Games, and you’ve likely played something he’s helped develop. When he’s not working, he plays Sunday league football. He is London-based now, but he’s originally from Doncaster, which he will talk about as soon as possible after meeting you.

Harry is 26 years old and works as a master neon glass blower for the neon sign company, Horan & Horan. You’ve likely seen his work all over London in signage for companies like Nike, television programs like Strictly Come Dancing, and the Royal Albert Hall. 

This stranger session photo shoot became the most unique one yet as it turns out Louis and Harry are not actually strangers! So let’s call this shoot The  _ Exes _ Session. ;) 

As you can see in the photos, the chemistry between them was undeniable. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up as I tried to capture the sexual tension between them. I did my best, but it had nothing on the real thing. In person, this ex couple nearly set the park on fire with the sparks flying between them.

  
  


Louis woke up to a barrage of text messages. He clicked on the ones from Zayn and spent the next ten minutes looking at the photos from that fucked shoot he did with Harry that apparently have made their way around social media whilst he was sleeping. 

He spent the next fifteen minutes laying down on his bed, staring at the ceiling and wondering where his life had gone so wrong. Liam peeked his head in. “Alright, Lou?”

“Liam, what do you suppose I did in a past life to deserve to have the most humiliating moment of my life shown to hundreds of thousands of people?”

“Um, is this hypothetical, or—”

“I bloody wish it was hypothetical.”

“Is this about Harry?” Liam asked. He wordlessly handed his phone to Liam. “Oh shit.”

Liam dropped the phone next to him on the bed as if it burned him. “Um, I think you were wanting me to look at twitter, but Harry’s just texted you.”

Louis slowly picked up the phone as if it were a poisonous snake. “He’s been leaving me voicemails, but I haven’t listened to them.”

“Why not?”

“Because I have a very small amount of self-preservation left in me. Don’t really want to hear that the man I’m still in love with thinks I’m a right knobhead.”

Liam whistled. “Still in love with him? Had no idea you ever felt that strongly about him.”

Louis felt his jaw tighten. “I know you and Zayn think I’m a slag, but—”

“Lou, I never said—”

“You didn’t have to. You kept telling me I don’t know how to commit and not to hurt Harry. Well, he’s not the one who got hurt here, is he?” Louis jumped up from his bed. “I gotta get ready for work.”

He practically pushed a spluttering Liam out of his bedroom and tugged on the first pair of trousers and shirt he laid hands on. He went to slide his phone in his pocket when he saw the text notification again. Taking a breath, he opened the text.

Oh. The bag. Right. Well, that was fine. Harry could leave it with the receptionist and never have to even see him. 

He and Liam rode the bus to work in silence. And to be honest, he was glad of it. He really didn’t feel like talking about being Harry’s rebound and nothing more or how he’d tried to save himself some embarrassment by letting Zayn and Liam think things had just fizzled out with Harry like they always did for Louis. 

He breezed past Laura at the reception desk, and as he and Liam entered the main work area at Space Age, the entire room stopped buzzing and fell silent. He was fucked. Of course, they’d all seen it. They all practically lived on the internet for fuck’s sake. 

Louis immediately reached for his bag to put his noise cancelling headphones on so he could silently broadcast to everyone in the room that he didn’t want to talk about it. But of course, he didn’t have his bloody bag because he’d left it at the photo shoot, and now Harry had it. 

He scurried to his cubicle without looking anyone in the face. “Um, Lou?”

“Not now, Liam,” he hissed. Honestly, couldn’t Liam have spoken to him at any point before they arrived at work?

Liam continued to stand behind him like a knobhead until Louis turned around to look at him. Liam’s brows furrowed together as though he had been thinking hard. “I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t take your relationship with Harry seriously.”

“Oh.”

“I think you should tell him how you feel and see if there’s still something there between you two.”

It was clear half the room was attempting to listen to this conversation. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, mate. But I accept the apology if you buy me pizza tonight.”

Liam grinned, seeming relieved that their little spat had come to an end. “Deal. But please, think about it, Louis. Everyone can see there’s still something there between you and Harry just from a couple of still photographs.”

Louis just shrank into his chair and shook his head. “Miles is just a good photographer, Payno.”

“You know that’s not all—”

Laura scooted right into their conversation, her voice a bit breathless as she waved Louis’ bag. “Louis, your boyfriend just dropped this off.”

Every eye shifted from Louis to Laura and back to Louis again. “Not my boyfriend,” he mumbled as he grabbed the bag.

Liam headed back out the door, probably to smoke a cigarette. Laura’s cheeks heated up a little, but she persisted. “Could have sworn he said he was, and well, in the photos—”

Louis pulled out the headphones and plopped them over his ears. It was going to be a long day. 

  
  


Harry felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as he entered Space Age Games. He’d been here a few times over the course of his relationship with Louis, bringing him lunch once in a while or taking him to dinner after he was done with a big project. But somehow his body could sense Louis’ presence in the place. 

The receptionist wasn’t at her desk, so he waited a few minutes before wondering if he should walk in and take it to Louis himself. No, probably not. The lobby was quite interesting to look at anyway, artwork from the many game launches hung in a line around the center of the walls. One wall was dedicated to the people who worked there with professionally shot photos of everyone. His eyes zeroed in on Louis’ photo. 

His hair was a bit longer in this photo, and it must have been taken somewhere around the time they were together. He even recognised the shirt as one he’d bought him. It sent a stab of emotion through him before he tried to will it away. Louis probably never even looked at this photo of himself anymore, just used to its daily presence by now as he walked past it. 

“Hello, can I help you?”

Harry whipped around at the sound of the voice. “Ehm—yes? Hello. I—well, I have Louis’ bag here—”

“Oh, I’m sure he’s missing it! Nice of his boyfriend to bring it round for him!” She winked. “Would you like me to go fetch him for you?”

“No! No. It’s fine. I’ll just—” He tried to thrust the bag at her. “I’ll just leave it with you if that’s alright. Don’t want to interrupt.”

He nearly tripped backing away towards the door before he turned and made a break for it, not turning back or stopping until he reached Horan & Horan. So lost in his own thoughts, it didn’t occur to him that anyone at work would bother asking about the photo shoot now that it was plastered all over the internet, but as soon as he walked in the main doors of the studio, everyone’s head turned in his direction. 

Even if they hadn’t seen the photos on their own, Niall had probably spread the news as soon as he popped in this morning. Without a word, he quickly scanned the jobs board and chose one of the easier ones and headed into his workspace. He’d never been so thankful before that The Neon Workshop was separated from the rest of the studio.

With a sigh, he began pulling out Coral Rose coloured glass to work with today. The design was quite simple, and he quickly sketched out what to do. It wasn’t until he was done bending it into the proper positions and lighting up the word  _ HIM _ in all capital letters that he groaned. 

He collapsed onto the metal stool at his workbench and slid his phone out of his pocket. A quick scroll showed nothing from Louis, not that he really expected a response, but there were plenty of messages from his family members, some of his colleagues currently out in the main workshop area, and even some of his childhood friends. Christ. 

They all seemed to relay the same message—that they were glad to see him and Louis work out their differences. Because he was the worst kind of masochist, he pulled up twitter and looked for the original tweet of Miles’ Facebook post. Honestly, where was the reading comprehension? It said right there that they were exes. And sure, they could speculate about it, but why act as though it was inevitable? 

Fuck these photos for reminding him of the way Louis felt in his arms, his hands splayed across Louis’ arse. Fuck them for the memory of Louis’ lips warm and wet against his own.

He dropped the phone to the table and lowered his head into his hands. 

“Hey, H.”

It was Niall, so he didn’t bother to look up. “Yes?”

“Looks like you’re done with this one, huh?”

“Yep.”

“Great. I’ll let Andy know you’re ready to mount it on a tray.”

“Great,” Harry echoed.

“Alright?”

“Do I look alright, Niall?”

There was a pause as though Niall was trying to think of the best way of telling him he looked like a nutter sat at his table with his head in his hands. “No.”

“Well—alright then. Go ahead and tell Andy it’s ready.”

“Harry, maybe you should—”

“Bugger off, Niall.”

“Right. Got it. Buggering off now.” He heard Niall’s footsteps towards the door. “I need you in a client meeting in about an hour. Does that work for you?”

Fuck. There’s nothing Harry wanted to do less than meet with a client. “Do they for sure want neon?”

“Yeah, sorry, mate. You know I wouldn’t ask if—”

He sat up and looked into Niall’s worried face. “It’s fine.”

Harry stood up and stretched out his back before walking back out to the job board to grab another one. He could at least sketch even if it probably wasn’t a good idea to bend any more glass today. The way his nerves were acting, he’d probably end up burning his bloody hand off. He took a particularly intricate piece to keep his mind off Louis, but that idea failed miserably as he sat staring into space. 

His phone flashed with notifications for the millionth time today, and he actually glanced at it this time. Miles’ name appeared in a twitter notification banner, and he picked it up, his jaw tightening as though everything that had happened over the last week was all entirely Miles’ fault. 

_ Had no idea the photos of @neon_harry and @louist_gamer would spread so fast! Thanks so much to both of you for being part of my project! Let us know any updates about you two! A reconciliation perhaps? ;) _

Harry’s blood boiled in his veins. This fucking wanker. Who the fuck did he think he was? He’d bloody watched as Louis ran off and left his damn bag behind he was so quick to be rid of Harry again. His fingers shook as he typed out a tweet.

_ You know very well there’s been no reconciliation so stop being a git at my expense. It’s been over between us for a long time.  _

There was a quick reply, but it wasn’t from Miles.

_ So you single then? You’re quite cute. DM me. _

Harry frowned as he watched people tweet back and forth, arguing about him. Some chastising the tweets asking for his number and saying he and Louis were clearly meant to be together, and others asking about Louis and what went wrong and couldn’t it be resolved. These arseholes didn’t even know he or Louis. 

He knew he should let it go, but his day had gone from utter shite to even worse. Lashing out was probably the wrong thing to do, but he didn’t even care anymore.

_ Please just leave me alone. Louis didn’t want to be in a serious relationship with me and there’s nothing I can do to fix that.  _

  
  


Louis sensed something was wrong pretty quickly. He’d thought his colleagues hadn’t been very subtle this morning, but now they were outright staring and talking in groups and gesturing towards him. They looked back and forth between him and their phones until he finally took his headphones off, throwing them next to his computer with a loud thump.

“What? What’s so bloody important about the back of my head that no one is working?” He knew he sounded hysterical at this point, but honestly, what was he supposed to do about any of this? This entire thing had been a right nightmare. 

“Uhh—”

“Mm—”

“Er—”

“Could someone please form a sentence? I get that my stupid photo with my stupid ex is all over Twitter, but could be we please just go back to work?” Louis was literally begging them to just sit the fuck down and stop staring at him.

Zayn had been facing his own workstation tapping away at whatever he was working on, but he suddenly swiveled around in his chair to face Louis. “They’re tweeting about you.”

“Who’s tweeting about me?”

“Harry and the photographer.”

“Wait—what?”

Zayn swiveled back around to his computer and kept working. 

“Fuck.” Louis slid his phone out, his fingers shaking a bit as he tried to open Twitter and see what the fuck was going on that apparently the entire office knew about but couldn’t spit out.

He stared at the tweets, reading them over and over as though if he read it a few more times it might make sense. The stress of the last week finally boiled over into the flush of his face and the tears in his eyes. 

He tapped out a tweet, wiping his eyes once with a sleeve.

_ I was ready to commit to you. You were everything I’d been waiting for my whole life but I was clearly just your rebound. So piss off and don’t go blaming me for the breakup _

He tossed his phone to the desk as the room gasped as all of his co-workers clearly glued to their phones got the notification of his tweet.

His phone vibrated, and another gasp swept the room. 

_ How can that be true when I told you I loved you, you wanker _

Louis’ jaw tightened, rage building. How dare he bring that up?

_ You were completely plastered when you said that and then straight away vomited in the sink _

The room gasped again.

_ That doesn’t mean it wasn’t true _

Another gasp.

Someone snatched the phone from his hand. He looked up into Liam’s set face. “Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” 

“Anywhere but here.”

That sounded alright considering he was in the middle of his life melting down in front of what felt like the entire world, so he followed Liam out the front doors and into a waiting Uber. He didn’t bother to ask where Liam was taking him, but for some reason he just assumed they were headed back to their flat. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he noticed they weren’t at all in their neighbourhood. 

The Uber stopped in front of a small community garden that was truly lovely, roses and ornamental beds and ponds and wildlife. A year ago he and Harry had come here to walk the grounds and eat ice creams from a cart. 

He followed Liam out of the Uber and into the gardens, and even though he didn’t feel much like walking about near Harry’s flat, maybe it would do him some good to walk a bit with his best friend at his side. Liam didn’t speak, and Louis simply walked alongside him in silence and tried to catch a deep breath.

They walked a path that passed under a pergola opening up into an area with benches, one of which was occupied by two men facing away from them. For Louis, there was no mistaking the back of one of those heads. 

He stopped dead in his tracks. “Liam—”

Before he could hiss a word or make a run for it, Liam had thrown him over a shoulder and carried him the short distance to the bench and plopped him down beside Harry who looked at him in absolute horror. Niall who had been sat on the other side of Harry jumped up and strode off with Liam, leaving the two of them to stare at each other, mouths hanging open.

Harry was the first to regain his wits. “Niall told me we were meeting a client. I don’t suppose you were looking to order a neon sign today.”

It took another long moment for any of that to register with Louis. “Yeah, maybe one that says knobhead.”

Harry let out a loud honk of laughter that forced a smile to Louis’ lips in remembrance. “I can have it done in a few weeks. Want it in red?”

“Of course.”

They were quiet for a moment before Louis spoke again. “Liam took my phone, so I don’t know if you tweeted anything else besides uh—”

Harry huffed out a groan and looked away from him. “No, I didn’t tweet anything else besides that I was in love with you, Louis. Niall’s taken my phone as well.”

Louis cleared his throat, uncertain what to even say. “So we’re stuck here in the park then?”

“Not exactly. I could always just walk to my flat from here.”

“Right.” Louis stared down at his trainers.

Harry stood up. Louis’ heart beat in triple time. Was Harry just going to walk away? “I could make you a cuppa.”

“What?” His eyes darted up to the wary look in Harry’s green eyes. 

Harry took a breath. “If you want to talk, you could come to mine and have a cuppa. If not, I can give you directions to the nearest tube station, and you can run away from me screaming again.”

“I didn’t scream.”

“Yeah, well—”

Louis stood up. “I think um—if you want to talk, I’ll take that cuppa.”

“Oh.”

“If that’s alright.”

Harry’s eyes widened to comical proportions as though he’d truly expected Louis to run away screaming. “Yeah, yes, yeah, alright. It’s yes. It’s alright.”

Louis felt a smile tug at the corners of his lips and nodded at Harry to lead the way.

  
  


As they walked along the pavement, Louis’ arm brushed against his as they made their way towards his flat. The simple touch sent sparks skittering across his skin. But mostly, he concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other until they reached his building. At this point, he really wasn’t sure what to expect from Louis.

It’s all been confusing as fuck for him. For Louis to kiss him so passionately and then literally run away from him, for him to declare that the breakup was because he thought he’d been a rebound. The thought raced through his head that there was some possibility that they could have a second chance, and he could hardly believe his luck.

But he didn’t want to get ahead of himself on that. It was just a cup of tea after all.

He opened the door for Louis, ushering him inside the building and into the lift. The stagnant air inside the small space seemed to be suffocating him, or maybe he was just holding his breath. He let it out in a long sigh that captured Louis’ notice, but before either of them could speak, the lift stopped. 

Harry fumbled with his key before they entered the flat, and his stomach flipped over at the thought of having Louis in his flat again. The last time he’d been there, Harry had known it was over between them, and he’d touched Louis as though he were memorising the taste of his lips and the feeling of his body beneath him. 

He’d thought it would be the last time he’d ever touch him like that until fate stepped in in the form of a dickhead photographer. 

Louis quirked his eyebrow up. Right, the tea. He rummaged through his cupboard looking for Yorkshire, but it had been ages since he had any. So he settled on Twinings. Louis stood at the window, looking out onto the street, and Harry had the urge to walk up behind him and wrap him up in his arms. 

Instead, he kept a polite distance. “Tea should be ready in a few.”

Louis turned around and nodded, leaning back against the window. It framed him there, looking so damn beautiful that it hurt. Louis didn’t say anything, and Harry honestly didn’t know what to say. But he’d say anything to get him to stay and speak to him, to just tell him what was going on in his head. The things he’d tweeted didn’t sound like someone who didn’t feel  _ something _ whatever that something might be. He sat on his sofa and looked up at Louis.

“You weren’t a rebound,” he said, sounding as surprised as he felt. Apparently, today was the beginning of a new phase of his life where he was actually direct with people. Louis looked fairly shocked as well. 

But then Louis snorted a bit. “Harry, you were engaged to be married a month before you met me.”

“Doesn’t make you a rebound if I didn’t have any intention of letting you go.”

Louis frowned. “But you did let me go, Harry.”

“Not by choice. I mean, I knew you didn’t—feel the same way about me. And it—” Harry took a shuddering breath, remembering the pain. “It hurt so much to not have my love for you returned, but I’m still so thankful for you, Lou. I knew I’d made the right decision ending my engagement because falling in love with you made me realise what love could feel like.”

Louis’ lips pressed into a firm line as he stalked over to him. “What are you on about? Why would you think I didn’t feel the same way about you? Fucking hell, Harry, I introduced you to my family and all my friends, I spent all my free time with you, I  _ loved _ you. Of course, I fucking loved you.”

“But—but you—you know—”

“No, I don’t fucking know. Why did you leave me when you say now that you loved me? Why did you think I didn’t want to be in a serious relationship with you? What could I have done differently?” Louis’ fists pressed into his sides, his eyes searching his and a bit watery. And Harry had never felt so confused in all his life.

“I heard you—I heard your friends talking about me. About us. Saying that they knew you were never serious about anyone. And you didn’t say anything. You didn’t say I was different, so I thought—I thought—”

“Christ, Harry. They’ve always gone on about that shit with me. And yeah, maybe I haven’t been serious about anyone else before, or at least not as serious as I was about you, but I just let them talk and paid them no mind. Didn’t know you thought so poorly of me though. When did I ever treat you like you didn’t matter to me?”

“I don’t know. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything to you about it. And I’m sorry that the only time I was brave enough to tell you I was in love with you I was drunk. But you let me go, too. You never said our relationship was going anywhere.”

“Thought I was showing you. I’m sorry I didn’t say the words that you obviously needed to hear.” Louis sighed. “I guess I’m glad we could talk and clear the air though. And now I don’t have to keep wondering what went wrong or telling myself I didn’t mean anything to you.”

“You meant everything to me.” Harry couldn’t keep looking at him anymore. None of this sounded like Louis wanted a second chance.

Louis made an odd choked sound in his throat. “I can’t—can’t stay here and—” He’d turned towards the door as Harry leaped up from the sofa. 

“Wait!” He turned around to face him again. “Maybe I want more answers. Why did you run away from me? At the photo shoot why did you leave like that? And why didn’t you answer any of my calls?”

Louis’ eyes, wet with anguish, looked at him incredulously. “I’m not over you, Harry. And it hurts too much to pretend I am. I have to go.”

Harry lunged for him before he could reach the door. “I’m not over you either, you idiot!”

“What?”

“How are you not understanding this? I literally told what feels like the entire internet that I loved you today, and you think I’m over you?”

“It was in past tense.” Louis shrugged, but his lips twitched. “What you tweeted was in past tense.”

Harry’s hands wrapped around Louis’ biceps, holding him in place. “Did you not see the photos? How could you think that after you saw the way I was looking at you in those? Fuck’s sake, I’m kissing your forehead in one of them! I’m practically begging you to keep kissing me in them! How can you not know I want a second chance? Please, Louis, I’ll—”

Louis threw himself up and into his arms, his lips pressing to his, hard and demanding, and his legs wrapped around Harry’s waist. There was more to talk about, but now certainly wasn’t the time if Louis was kissing him.

Harry had no idea if he was moving too fast, but he kept his hands firmly planted under Louis’ arse as he carried him through the flat to his bedroom. He figured Louis must be on board with it considering he wouldn’t stop kissing him. And oh god, Harry was in heaven again with the way Louis was kissing him. 

Passion kindled in his belly at the feel of Louis’ lithe body pressed to his again. He sat on the bed so that Louis’ legs still straddled him, their kiss becoming more heated and rough. Harry put everything he had into the kiss, trying to show Louis how he felt about him. He scooted back in the bed, taking Louis with him and flipping him onto his back. Staring down at his red, kiss-bruised lips, Harry knew he’d never tire of seeing him like this. 

His fingers found their way beneath Louis’ shirt tugging it up as he pressed kisses to the skin he found there. His lips left a trail of devotion up Louis’ chest as he pulled his shirt up and over his head, now able to use his tongue and lips and teeth on every inch of Louis’ skin he revealed. His hands traveled lower deftly unbuttoning his jeans and pulling them off with his pants as his tongue dipped into his navel.

Louis shuddered beneath his hands and mouth, his fingers entwined in Harry’s hair as he tried to hold Harry against him as though anything could have stopped Harry from his chance to worship at the altar of Louis’ body. He longed to tell Louis every pent up bit of love he’d been keeping in his heart all these months, but instead, he took Louis into his mouth and Louis’ gasps sounded like the sweetest music. 

He hummed and sucked and licked until Louis chanted his name in broken syllables. “Hazza—Harry—don’t want to—come—like—this.”

Harry looked up into his face, his lips still wrapped around Louis’ cock. He released him slowly, letting his tongue make one final stroke as Louis moaned. Harry didn’t move from his position between Louis’ legs. Instead, he popped his thumb in his mouth before letting it press against Louis’ hole, pleased with the high pitched yelp that left Louis’ lips.

“Fuck. Harry, fuck me, please. Hazza please. I need you.” Harry caught Louis’ gaze, his blue eyes perhaps seeing the love that’s long lived inside Harry. “I love you.”

Whatever hold Harry had on his actions up until now vanished at the words. He nearly fell out of the bed scrambling for his bedside table in a search for lube and a condom. Louis seemed quite pleased with Harry’s reaction to this, laughing with crinkles by his eyes.

Harry tore at the wrapper, sliding the condom on faster than he’d ever done anything in his life as he slicked up his cock before he was slowly pressing inside Louis. Louis clung to his shoulders as he moved as slowly as he could, his muscles straining to keep a hold of his instinct to plunge inside Louis and seek a release from the tension. 

He could feel the sweat pooling at the small of his back as he waited for Louis to become accustomed to the intrusion of his cock. Louis moaned low and long and then pressed his hips up, his legs on either side of Harry’s waist, urging him on. 

The intensity of what he and Louis had before had nothing on what they had now. Now that the dam of words had been breached, they flowed out of him as he murmured words of praise and love and more as he moved inside Louis. 

Louis came with Harry’s name on his lips, and Harry had never heard anything better than the rasp of his voice calling out for him. All of which was enough to send Harry careening towards his own release.

He slumped onto Louis’ chest, his head pressed to his heart, as Louis threaded his hair through his fingers. 

“Could never be over you, Hazza.”

“Could never be over you either.”

  
  


**EPILOGUE**

\- An Engagement Session -

Harry + Louis

Harry is a 27 year old master neon glass blower for the neon sign company, Horan & Horan. You’ve likely seen his work in signs across the world for companies like Nike, H&M, and MTV, and you may remember him calling me a git on Twitter last year after I published photos of him and his fiancé back when they were estranged and suggested the possibility of a reconciliation. I accept your apology, Harry. He’s London-based now, but is originally from Holmes Chapel where he and Louis will be getting married in a few months time.

Louis is 29 years old and busy as ever, developing games at Space Age Games and kicking my arse at Sunday league football matches. Thanks for the encouragement to get into the league, Louis! This Doncaster-born Londoner is quite pleased that I accidentally paired them together for a strangers photo session that turned into an exes photo session that went viral, but he still thinks I’m a proper git. 

Their prior photo shoot remains the most popular of my projects, and I’m happy to say I shall also be continuing to follow this amazing couple as I’m going to take the photographs for their upcoming wedding. And I will continue to allow you all a peek into the sparks that fly between this couple even through a lens or a screen. I suspect I shall be allowed to update you all for as long as Harry finds the situation romantic or for as long as Louis tolerates my presence. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading my breakup fic! If you enjoyed it, please leave kudos and comments! You can reblog [this post](https://allwaswell16.tumblr.com/post/635959340241698816/o-v-e-r-written-by-allwaswell16-for) or retweet [this tweet](https://twitter.com/all_was_well_16/status/1332384039613788162?s=20) and I will love you forever! <3


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